This is a pretty big blow to the Obama team. Tom Daschle was a great choice to head President Obama’s efforts to reform our health care system, as his experience as Senate Majority leader would have been very useful in getting the legislation through Congress.
Category: Democrats (Page 10 of 57)
Some have observed that President Obama’s Inaugural Address didn’t meet his high standards for powerful speeches. Yet other have noted that Obama wanted to stress the need to get serious about the problems facing our nation. It was time to get to work.
Joe Klein points out that Obama has continued with this tone during his first week in office.
Just as he could have opted for the adrenaline rush of grand rhetoric in his Inaugural Address but didn’t, he could have turned any of the profoundly serious actions of his first week into a whiz-bang photo opportunity. He could have planted solar panels and a wind turbine on the White House roof or blasted the Bush Administration as he signed an Executive Order banning torture or lacerated the bankers who got us into the economic mess. But that’s not his style, apparently. He has reversed the tactical, win-the-news-cycle sensibility of recent presidencies. During his first week in office, at least, he opted for strategy and substance over showbiz.
Which is not to say there weren’t symbolic gestures. But the groups Obama lavished his attention on were an unlikely bunch: diplomats, Muslims and Republicans. The gestures involved a geographic humility that was a clean break from the presidential past: he went to the State Department, to the Capitol, and appeared on the Al Arabiya television network before granting an interview to any of the American channels. In each case, the gesture was made more for its long-term effect than its short-term bang.
The President visited the State Department on his second full day in office to send a message: diplomacy will now take precedence over military force in U.S. foreign policy — and his Administration’s will be a diplomacy of constant, persistent attention to the world’s problem areas rather than slapdash summitry. The occasion for Obama’s visit was the announcement of two special envoys, Richard Holbrooke and George Mitchell, both of whom represent a silent reproach to the Bush Administration. Holbrooke will have the near impossible task of untangling the mess in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a problem exacerbated by recent American inattention to detail in the area. (The deterioration toward chaos in Pakistan, especially, surprised some of the President’s closest aides.)
There is much that needs to be done, and fixing these problems will take time. I suspect that the American people will be patient as Obama demonstrates a willingness to attack these problems in a serious, bi-partisan manner.
When Republicans gained full control of the government during the Bush years, they abandoned the “pay-as-you-go” budget requirement that helped Bill Clinton and the GOP congress to balance the budget and ultimately create surpluses in the 1990s. The results were disastrous, as the national debt nearly doubled during the Bush years.
Many Blue-Dog Democrats have wanted a return to these policies, and Obama has pledged that all spending and tax changes enacted after the stimulus will be held to this standard.
House Democrats won a key procedural vote Tuesday on the stimulus after a last-minute promise from the Obama administration to return to “pay-as-you-go” budget rules after the stimulus is approved.
In a 224-199 vote, the House approved a resolution allowing the stimulus bill to come to the floor for debate. Twenty-seven Democrats – 24 of them members of the conservative Blue Dog Coalition – bucked their leadership and voted against the measure.
But according to Democratic leadership sources, the number was almost much higher – and could have been high enough to hand the Republicans a monumental victory – had it not been for a letter from President Obama’s budget director Peter Orszag.
The letter addressed to House Appropriations Committee Chairman David promised to return to “pay-as-you-go budgeting,” and stressed that the stimulus was an “extraordinary response to an extraordinary process” and thus subject to different rules.
“It should not be seen as an opportunity to abandon the fiscal discipline that we owe each and every taxpayer in spending their money – and that is critical to keeping the United States strong in a global, interdependent economy,” the letter stated.
Orszag also emphasized that Obama’s support for paying for any temporary tax cuts in the stimulus that he would like to make permanent. The budget director said Obama would detail those offsets in his budget.
“Moving forward, we need to return to the fiscal responsibility and pay-as-you-go budgeting that we had in the 1990’s for all non-emergency measures,” Orszag continued. “The President and his economic team look forward to working with the Congress to develop budget enforcement rules that are based on the tools that helped create the surpluses of a decade ago.
“Putting the country back on the path of fiscal responsibility will mean tough choices and difficult trade-offs, but for the long-term health of our economy, the President believes that they must be made.”
Though addressed to Obey, Democratic sources said copies of the letter were distributed in a last minute flurry to Blue Dogs, many of whom were already on the floor and ready to cast their votes. The centrist group already was ruffled by the fact the package included far more spending than Obama had called for, and were prepared to vote as a block against the resolution, Democratic sources said.
What a mess.
It’s painfully apparent that Caroline Kennedy lacks the political skills possessed by her famous father and uncles. Her rollout was terrible, and she’s done nothing to help herself along the way. Now she’s pulling out, and every story suggests a different reason, depending on the source. Can’t she just go on Larry King like everyone else and field some softball questions?
Meanwhile, Governor Patterson looks like a bumbling fool. Why has he stretched this out so long? Why does he keep contradicting himself? In one sense, Kennedy put him in a tough spot, but he also made matters worse.
I initially thought it was a great idea to appoint Caroline Kennedy. Sure, she didn’t have the usual credentials, and it’s probably not fair that she’s benefiting from her famous name, but she’s the sole heir of one of our most influential political figures, and I felt she could be a powerful and unique advocate for Obama’s agenda. She emerged as a real force during the campaign, and this presented an interesting opportunity for her to begin a career in politics.
Unfortunately, she really wasn’t ready. She was too uncomfortable in front of cameras. She never took command of the process. I thought she would seize the moment. I was wrong.
The Washington Post reports that the Obama team is back off one of its tax cut proposals, as many Democrats have expressed concern tha the $3,000 jobs tax credit would be difficult to administer and could easily be abused.
I’m not sure this is the case, but it’s refreshing to see flexibility from the Obama team. Even more interesting was this observation in the article:
Even before assuming office, Obama is taking an unusually direct role in legislative efforts to move both bills forward, personally phoning lawmakers and dispatching senior aides to Capitol Hill on a near-daily basis. Today the president-elect will speak to Senate Democrats at their weekly luncheon, and he will soon appear before House Democrats, although a date has not been set, a senior Obama aide said.
Obama expects to meet with Republicans in both chambers, the aide added, although not until after he is inaugurated next Tuesday.
Obama is showing that he’s wlling to mix it up and get his hands dirty. He cares about the details, and he wants to be involved in the details. He expects government to perform well, and he’s setting the standard.
Obviously, this presents a stark contrast to George W. Bush. As I’ve said many times, expect a much different tone and work ethic over the next eight years.
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